“MONSTROUS AND ILLEGAL PROCEEDINGS”: LAW ...

Rodriguez was born in Alegrete. Rodriguez’s mother then demanded that the Brazilian vice-
counsel protect her son’s rights as a Brazilian subject. 223
Blanco officials were skeptical. Diego Lamas wrote that it was “public and notorious”
that Rodriguez was Uruguayan. 224 Lamas added that wherever Rodriguez might have been
born, he had lived in Uruguay for more than fifteen years and served in the National Guard
voluntarily for some time. This rendered him an Uruguayan citizen under national law.
Undaunted, the Brazilian Vice-Counsel sent a second petition to Lamas. In it, he argued that
he had issued “a certificate [papeleta]” to Manuel Rodriguez declaring him a Brazilian subject
based on the documentary evidence in the consulate’s archives. With Rodriguez now in
prison for desertion, the Vice-Counsel wrote: “As a representative of my country, I am
sorry to say to Your Mercy that it is painful to me to see the rights of His Majesty’s subjects
disregarded.” 225 The Vice-Counsel demanded Rodriguez’s release. When none was
forthcoming, he petitioned the Brazilian embassy in Montevideo to resolve the “abuses” of
borderlands officials towards Brazilian subjects.
Through these types of legal proceedings, Bica and his factional allies began to alter
the balance of power back across the border in the Estado Oriental. In essence, Bica had
used his connections throughout the borderlands to manufacture an international incident
that confirmed persistent Brazilian accusations that blanco officials in Uruguay routinely
violated the rights of imperial subjects and in doing so offended the sovereignty of the
empire. At the same time, Bica bolstered his own reputation on both sides of the border as
someone who could assist his allies in vindicating their own legal claims.
223 Ibid.
224 Ibid., 12.
225 Ibid., 11.
252